1. Field
The present invention relates to a standup dependent exercise apparatus that simulates walking, jogging and climbing with arm exercise that simulates rowing and ski pole motion. More particularly, the present invention relates to an exercise machine having separately supported treadles for the feet and arm exercise coordinated with the motion of the feet.
2. State of the Art
The benefits of regular exercise to improve overall health, appearance and longevity are well documented in the literature. For exercise enthusiasts the search continues for safe apparatus that provides total body exercise for maximum benefit in minimum time. PoleStriding refers to walking with a pair of ski poles for arm exercise as a total body exercise.
Clinical trials reported in the article xe2x80x9cPoleStriding Exercise and Vitamin E for Management of Peripheral Vascular Diseasexe2x80x9d by Eileen G. Collins et al. appearing in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 2003; 35(3):384-393 provide strong evidence that PoleStriding significantly improved exercise tolerance with reduced claudication pain in the participants of the trials. Other clinical trials such as xe2x80x9cEffect of exercise on perceived quality of life of individuals with Parkinson""s diseasexe2x80x9d by J. Baatile et al. appearing in VA Research and Development, Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, Vol. 37, No. 5, September/October 2000 report improved quality of life after 8 weeks of PoleStriding. One common complaint of PoleStriding participants is the unusual appearance of walking in public with ski poles.
Magid in U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,489 shows a walker apparatus with left and right foot belts having independent belt movement. Yoshimura in U.S. Pat. Application No. 2001/0016542 shows a pair of tread belts pivoted in the front to provide independent stepper movement. Piaget et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,146 shows a pair of dual reciprocating treads pivoted in the rear acting independently against damper resistance. Speer et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,673 shows a dual-tread exercise having one tread for each foot. Liu in U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,856 shows a stepper exercise device also having dual treads.
Foster in U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,400 shows dependent forward pivot foot support members connected to hand levers for mountain climbing exercise. Chang in U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,570 shows dependent forward pivoted foot support members as part of a linkage having a crank to determine step range. Lo in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,688 shows a dependent stepper that drives a flywheel. Kuo in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,989,857 and 5,039,087 uses forward pivoted foot support members powered by a motor through a crank.
The treadle category has the foot support members pivoted or guided rearward the operator allowing the foot to move up and down wherein the toe moves faster than the heel. Brown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,316,898 shows foot support members slidably pivoted rearward the operator with elliptical foot motion. Encke in U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,420 offers foot support members pivoted rearward the operator with treadle motion controlled by lever action. Eschenbach in U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,294 offers rearward pivoted treadle pedal movement coordinated with arm exercise. Gordon in U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,029 shows rearward pivoting foot support members that support foot trolleys for back and forth foot motion coordinated by belts to up and down foot support member motion.
Arm exercise with elliptical hand motion has recently appeared in the art. Yu in U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,296 shows a dependent stepper with elliptical hand motion. Rodgers, Jr. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,589 and Lin et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,760 show elliptical hand motion coordinated with elliptical foot motion.
There remains a need for a stationary exercise apparatus that simulates PoleStriding to give users the benefits of PoleStriding exercise reported in clinical trials without concern for weather or public appearance. There also remains a need to combine walking exercise with arm exercise having ski pole movements found in PoleStriding. There also remains a need to combine up and down inclined foot motion on tread belts having low knee stress with elliptical hand motion to exercise muscles in an alternative manner. There also remains a need for an exercise apparatus that provides climbing foot movements not found with stepper exercise apparatus combined with arm exercise.
One objective of the present invention is to provide total body exercise that simulates PoleStriding. Another objective of the present invention is to provide smooth up and down treadle motion with walking tread belt movement coordinated with elliptical hand movement. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a control system that allows the tread belts speed to be coordinated with the up and down treadle movement speed.
The present invention relates to the kinematic motion control of a pair of treadles each having a continuous tread belt to simulate walking, jogging and climbing during operation. More particularly, apparatus is provided that offers variable intensity exercise through a leg and arm operated cyclic motion in which the treadle supporting each foot is guided through successive positions during the up and down motion cycle while a load resistance acts upon the mechanism.
The treadles are guided through up and down inclined movement with tread belts for walking foot movement and handles coordinated with treadle movement for elliptical hand movement to simulate PoleStriding.
In the preferred embodiment, the apparatus includes a pair of treadles each having a tread belt with each treadle pivoted rearward the user. The front end of each treadle is supported by a connecting link for up and down movement. A pair of cranks control the up and down movement of the connecting links. Handles with hand grips are removably attached to the upper ends of the connecting links. As the cranks rotate, the treadles move up and down while the hand grips follow an elliptical ski pole motion. The tread belts are motor driven to encourage walking or jogging uphill. Different arm exercise occurs such as rowing or ski pole movement depending upon the direction of crank rotation.
A flywheel and alternator are used with adjustable load resistance to ensure smooth motion. Of course, other forms of adjustable load resistance such as friction belt, magnetic, air fan, etc. can be used in lieu of the alternator. A motor is used to drive the tread belts for walking and jogging. Of course, the tread belts can be manually driven by the rearward movement of the feet acting against load resistance. Also the cranks can be motor driven to control the speed of the treadle motion. A control system is provided to adjustably coordinate the motor speed of the tread belts with the crank speed.
An alternate embodiment would replace the crank and connecting links as a treadle movement means with a linkage or flexible linking such as a belt and pulley to raise one treadle as the other lowers.
In summary, this invention provides the operator with stable treadles with tread belts having adjustable intensity motions that simulate walking, jogging and climbing with very low joint impact while offering reversible elliptical hand motion for coordinated upper body exercise to simulate PoleStriding.